Batting

Los Angeles, Calif. – Junior center fielder Erik Munzer (Beverly Hills, Calif.) was 3-for-4 with an RBI and junior Guy Stevens (Lafayette, Calif. - pictured) continued his string of dominant relief performances with four innings of work to get the save as the Pomona-Pitzer Baseball team moved into a tie for second in the SCIAC with a 6-3 win at Occidental on Monday.

With the win, the Sagehens are now 21-12-1 overall on the year and 15-9 in the SCIAC, tying them with Cal Lutheran for second place in the standings, three games behind league-leading La Verne, which fell to 18-6 with a loss to Redlands on Monday. Occidental slips to 14-10 in the league with the loss (19-16 overall).

Stevens threw four innings of relief and allowed only one run, on a solo homer to lead off the ninth. That homer ended a streak of 19 straight innings without an earned run for Stevens, who has now allowed just two runs over his last six extended relief appearances (all two innings or more), during which time he has picked up two wins and three saves. His save also helped freshman pitcher Jake Bruml (San Mateo, Calif.), who allowed two runs over five innings, to remain perfect on the year at 5-0.

Pomona-Pitzer got off to a fast start with a three-run first inning. Junior left fielder Mike Moyer (Oakland, Calif.) led off the game with a single and came home on an RBI double from junior right fielder Nick Gentili (Glendale, Calif.). After a single from senior first baseman James Campbell (Lookout Mountain, Tenn.), Munzer had a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0.

After Campbell stole second and Bruml walked, freshman third baseman E.J. Lopez (Fresno, Calif.) singled home Campbell to extend the lead to 3-0, before Occidental was able to escape further damage by leaving the bases loaded.

The Tigers crept back within 3-2 with two runs in the third, the first coming on a successful squeeze play, but Pomona-Pitzer got those runs back in the fifth inning as freshman second baseman Mark Okuma (Palos Verdes, Calif.) had an RBI double and sophomore catcher Coleman Lukas (Berkeley, Calif.) added a sacrifice fly.

The Sagehens added an insurance run in the eighth as Munzer singled with two outs, stole second for his fifth stolen base in the last two games, and came home on a Bruml RBI single. Occidental got that run back with a solo homer in the ninth from pinch-hitter Alec Strain, but could come no closer as Stevens set the next three batters down in order to finish off his four-inning save.

Five players had multiple hits for Pomona-Pitzer, led by the 3-for-4 from Munzer and a 3-for-5 effort from Gentili. Munzer is now 7-for-9 with five stolen bases in his last two games, after going 4-for-5 with four stolen bases in a win over Cal Lutheran yesterday. Lopez, Lukas and Moyer each added two hits as well for the Sagehens.

Pomona-Pitzer faces La Verne on Friday at home (although La Verne will be the official home team and bat second) to try to stay alive in the SCIAC title hunt. A win would bring the Sagehens within two games with three to play, while a loss would clinch the SCIAC for La Verne.